Various types of loose materials are shipped, stored, and otherwise processed and distributed in the form of compressed bales. For example, cotton is processed into compressed bales so that a greater amount of cotton may be stored and shipped in a smaller space. Also, bales are generally easier and more efficient to handle than the loose, bulk material.
When the loose material is compressed into bales, it is generally known to wrap and tie such bales with wire or other elongated binding devices to keep the bales in a compressed form, such as for shipping and storage. Wire is often most preferable as a binding device because of its low cost and the ease with which it is handled. One method of forming a bale directs the compressible material into an automatic baler where it is pressed into a bale by a ram and then moved on a path by the ram through the baler. Continuous wire strands extend across the bale path at different heights on the bale and, as the bale moves through the baler, the wire strands are wrapped around the front end and sides of the bale. For such automatic balers, automatic tying systems are often used to engage the bale and wire strands and tie the wire strands around the bale, such as by twisting together the overlapped ends of the wire strands. Examples of various automatic tying methods are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,120,238; 4,155,296; 4,167,902, and 4,459,904.
While automatic tying methods and apparatuses have proven suitable for baling and tying compressed bales in certain applications, they generally require complex, expensive machinery which has to manipulate the wires and bales together to form and tie the bale. Certain applications require hand splicing or tying of the wires wrapped around a bale in order to reduce the complexities and costs associated with automatic tying mechanisms. Furthermore, the particular material being baled may dictate that hand tying is required, because of the complexities involved in trying to design an automatic tying apparatus.
Handtying or splicing mechanisms in the prior art have provided a means for splicing or tying two wires together. However, many such devices suffer from the disadvantages of being bulky and complicated to utilize. Furthermore, they often do not address the unique problems and scenarios which exist when bale wire ends are being tied together around a bale of compressed material. Still further, many such splicers or tying mechanisms are made for wires which have overlapped ends which stay neatly together, whereas the overlapped ends of wires wrapped around compressed bales tend to want to separate before and during twisting. Such prior art tying mechanisms often do not adequately work for all tying situations where the wire ends are not neatly overlapped or held together.
Another drawback in the prior art is the need for a number of different, specially modified twist apparatuses for handling different gauges of wire. This need drives up the cost of the operation when the bale tying applications require different wire sizes.
Therefore, there is a need for a hand-tying mechanism which will rapidly and adequately tie and secure a wire or other similar binding device around a bale of compressed material.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a simple and inexpensive apparatus for tying a wire around a bale rapidly and easily.
It is an objective to handle and tie wire wrapped around bales while keeping the overlapped ends of the wire together during tying for a proper knot.
It is a further objective of the present invention to wrap and tie bales with a strong durable twist or knot which has sufficient strength to hold the bales together even during handling.
It is still another objective the present invention to provide a simple, less complicated tying apparatus that may be readily utilized for various different baled materials and with various different gauges of baling wire.
These and other objectives will become more readily apparent from the Summary of the Invention and Detailed Description set forth hereinbelow.